Virtual Multiple Antenna (Vmat)

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a communication unit, network and method for communication within a communication network, the unit comprising a transceiver portion, a processing unit and at least one interface arrangement for communication with at least one peripheral device. The unit further comprises an arrangement for transceiving at least parts of a signal to the communication network using at least one of said interface arrangements for communication with said at least one peripheral device.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a communication network, method andunit for improving performance of radio communication and in particularto a multi path solution using a plurality of neighbouring communicationenabled devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There is an ever increasing demand for available bandwidth and radioresources in wireless communication. Currently, the wirelesscommunication field is one of the most expansive development anddeployment fields within the communication arena. However, wirelesscommunication have several drawbacks and inherent problems that limitthe amount of available bandwidth and radio resources since they operatein an open field with competing radio resources, disturbing objects anddisturbing environments, and limits to the amount of radio traffic thatcan be employed at the same time within a given area.

One way of decreasing the effect of disturbing environment may be to useantenna diversity, i.e. essentially two antennas receiving the samesignal and in a smart way analysing the signals from these two antennasin order to acquire a large signal to noise ratio (SNR). This demandsdevices with two (or more antennas) which may increase cost andgeometrical size of the devices. Using two or more antennas in onedevice for transmitting signals it is possible to use different radiochannels and therefore potentially increase the available bandwidth forthat device; again this increases the cost and size of the device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device, method,and system that may increase transmission and receiving redundancyand/or increase the bandwidth for the device.

This is provided by in a first aspect of the present invention, acommunication unit for communication within a communication network, theunit comprising a transceiver portion, a processing unit and one orseveral interface arrangements for communication with one or severalperipheral devices, characterized in that the unit further comprises anarrangement for transceiving at least parts of a signal to thecommunication network using one or several of the interface arrangementsfor communication with the one or several peripheral devices.

The communication unit may be a mobile communication unit, such as fromthe list of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobilecomputer, and a mobile music platform.

The communication unit may comprise a processing unit, a storage unit,an interface unit, at least one communication portion, a firstcommunication interface, at least one second communication interface,and an identification arrangement.

The processing unit may comprise additional instruction set for handlingand processing signals in respect to transmission and reception in theperipheral devices for communicating with the communication network.

The first communication interface may handle a wireless interface usedas a main communication link. The second communication interface may beused for communication with peripheral equipment.

The peripheral device may be at least one of a Personal DigitalAssistant (PDA), a mobile computer, a printer, a docking station, abattery charging device, storage device, music platform device,telephones, set top boxes for digital audio and/or video, routers orwireless data communication.

The second communication interface may comprise at least one of awireless interface or wire connection. The wire connection may be one orseveral of Ethernet, USB, Firewire, optical, serial or parallelconnections.

The first and second communication interface may use dissimilar wirelessmethods.

The communication unit and the peripheral devices may be arranged to actas one unit having several antennas towards said communication network.

Another aspect of the present invention, a communication network isprovided comprising:

a communication unit having a communication arrangement forcommunication with a telecommunication network,at least one peripheral unit communicatively connectable to thecommunication unit and having means for communication with thetelecommunication network, characterized in that the at least one unitis arranged to mediate a communication signal between thetelecommunication network and the communication unit in thecommunication network.

The telecommunication network is one or several of GSM (Global Systemfor Mobile communication), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), EDGE(Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution), UMTS (Universal MobileTelecommunications System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access),CDMA2000 or WCDMA (wideband CDMA).

The at least one transmitter and/or receiver arrangement may controlmediation of the signal. The communication unit may control mediation ofthe signal.

The communication unit and said peripheral units may receive the sametype or even the same radio signal. The communication unit and saidperipheral units may be perceived as one unit having multiple antennas.

Yet another aspect of the present invention, a device having means forreceiving and/or transmitting signals via a wireless interface and aconnection arrangement for connection to a mobile communication unit isprovided, characterised in that the device comprises a connectionportion for connecting the wireless interface to the connectionarrangement and further to the mobile communication unit for connectinga signal from the wireless interface to the mobile communication unit.

The device may be at least one of a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), amobile computer, a printer, a docking station, a battery chargingdevice, storage device, telephones, set top boxes for digital audioand/or video, routers or wireless data communication.

The second communication arrangement may comprise at least on of an airinterface or wire connection. The wire connection is one or several ofEthernet, USB, optical, Firewire, serial or parallel connections.

Still another aspect of the present invention, a method of enhancing oneor several of redundancy, bandwidth, capacity, error handling or payloadin a communication network is provided, comprising a communication unitfor communication with a communication station, and a number of deviceshaving communication ability with the communication centre, the methodcomprising the steps of:

receiving data by the devices over a radio channel,providing the data to the communication unit through a communicationinterface,processing the data received from the devices and signal from thecommunication station.

The method may further comprise the steps of:

establishing a communication link with the communication stationeither by the communication unit or the communication stationdetermining if an communication quality parameter,in an optional parallel or subsequent step, determining the quality ofan established link and making a decision to open an additional link tothe devices connected to the communication unitconnecting to the communication unit the devices,establishing a communication link between the communication station thedevices, and routing data from the communication unit via the pluralityof established communication links to the communication station.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from andelucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following the invention will be described in a non-limiting wayand in more detail with reference to exemplary embodiments illustratedin the enclosed drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a network system according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a mobile unit according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates schematically a flow diagram of a method according tothe present invention; and

FIG. 4 illustrates schematically a block diagram of a mobile unitaccording to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Basically, the invention emulates a MIMO (Multiple Input MultipleOutput) terminal which allows using transmission schemes involvingseveral radio channels, without incorporating several antennas in samedevice, which will be detailed in the following description of theexemplary embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates a communication network system 100 according to thepresent invention including a mobile wireless unit 10, e.g. a mobilephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile computer, or amobile music platform (e.g. an MP3 player), and a number of differentperipheral devices such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) 20, alaptop 30, and a printer 40. The network system comprises a centralcommunication device 50 connected to a network 120. The communicationdevice 10 may be connected to a base station 50 or transceiver of thenetwork.

The mobile unit 10 is arranged to communicate with the differentperipheral devices 20, 30, and 40 using one or several of differentavailable communication interfaces, for instance a wireless (e.g.Bluetooth) link 60 to the PDA 20, a USB link 70 to the laptop 30, and anEthernet link 80 to the printer 40. The mobile unit 10 is arranged tomainly establish a wireless communication link 90 with the centralcommunication device 50 (such as a 2G, 2.5G, or 3G base station; “G”stands for generation, i.e. 2G means second generation mobile telephonysystems and so on) for transmitting and receiving communication signalsto/from the network 120 using any type of suitable link 110 between thecentral communication device 50 and the network 120. All devicesincluding the mobile unit 10 and the peripheral devices 20, 30, 40utilize the same communication type towards the central communicationdevice 50 (e.g. a base station).

To employ the teachings of the invention, each peripheral devicecomprises an air interface for RF communication with the network. Theinterface may be an internal or external cell phone or the like. In thelaptop, for example, a PC-card including a transceiver can be used. Themodern PDA's usually also include a cell phone ability and so on. Itshould be noted that all devices able of communicating wirelessly withthe network, must have a unique identity within the local network formedby the mobile unit 10 and the different peripheral devices 20, 30, 40 ina conventional way. However, with respect to the base station 50 alldevices should have the same ID so as to provide a single interfacetowards the base station 50. The base station then believes that it iscommunicating with a single mobile unit 10 with a plurality of antennas.

In this manner a plurality of radio links 90 and radio channels may beestablished to the central communication device 50 increasing theavailable bandwidth and/or providing redundancy using peripheral devices20, 30 and 40, acting as access converters or access relays. Theseperipheral devices 20, 30 and 40 may be any type of equipment that cancommunicate with the mobile unit 10, such as the mentioned PDA, laptop,or printer, but also for instance a docking station, battery chargingdevices, other mobile units, storage devices, music platform devices(e.g. an MP3 player), telephones, set top boxes for digital audio and/orvideo, routers, wireless data communication devices (e.g. WLAN, WPAN,and other similar devices).

The mobile unit 10 may communicate with different peripherals using aplurality of communication links, such as IR (infrared), Bluetooth, WLAN(Wireless Local Area Network), e.g. from the IEEE 802.11, 802.15, and802.16 families, Ethernet, serial or parallel communication, USB(Universal Serial Bus), Firewire (IEEE 1394), or optical communicationsolutions. However, the communication links between the devices are notlimited to the above mentioned types, but any other suitablecommunication link solution now existing or future developments may beused as understood by the person skilled in the art.

The communication links between the mobile unit 10 and the peripheraldevices 20, 30, 40 on one side and the central communication device 50may be as mentioned earlier using 2G, 2.5G, and 3G, but also futuresimilar wireless communication links. One important aspect of theinvention is that the link between the mobile unit 10 and the centralcommunication device 50 is of the same type as between the peripheraldevices 20, 30, 40 and the central communication device 50.

With the term 2G is meant GSM (Global System for Mobile communication),CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), or similar low data ratecommunication links, with 2.5G is meant any type of intermediate datarate communication link such as GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) andEDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution), and with 3G is meanthigher data rate communication links such as UMTS (Universal MobileTelecommunications System), CDMA2000, or WCDMA (wideband CDMA).

Turning now to FIG. 2 illustrating a mobile unit 200 according to thepresent invention comprises a processing unit 201, a storage unit 202,an interface unit 203, at least one communication unit 204, a firstcommunication interface 205 and a plurality of peripheral communicationinterfaces 206, 207, and 208. The mobile unit further comprises anidentification arrangement 209 for uniquely identifying it in thenetwork. The identification arrangement can be a SIM (SubscriberIdentity Module) card, IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity),or any other unique identifier. The processing unit 201 has instructionsets for different operations and functions available in the mobileunit, e.g. for interfacing with the user, address and phone register,coding and decoding of voice and/or data, and many other normaloperations and functions normally available in mobile units. However,according to the present invention, additional instruction sets forhandling and processing the signals incoming from the peripheral devicesreceived and relayed from the communication network are provided. Thestorage unit 202 may be provided for storing data permanently and/ortemporarily, such as an address and phone register, user information andso on. The interface unit 203 may be provided for interfacing with auser via a keypad and an LCD screen or similar. The communication unit204 may be provided for handling communication related issues such asdeciding on which communication interface to use depending on type ofdata to send or receive (including digital data and voice data). Thefirst communication interface 205 handles a wireless interface used as amain communication link, for instance 2.5G or 3G interface. Theperipheral interface units 206, 207, 208 are used for communication withperipheral equipment, as described earlier.

The peripheral equipment may be similarly built with similar componentsas the mobile unit; however, it should be understood that operations andfunctions may differ slightly of course depending on type of equipment.

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic of the reception and transmission ofsignals by the mobile unit 410. Thus, according to this embodiment, itis assumed that the system of the invention acts as MIMO emulator, inwhich the peripheral devices act as additional antennas. In this caseperipheral are denoted with 420, 430 and 440. Each peripheral devicecomprises an antenna 421, 431, 441 connected to a transceiver unit (notshown). The mobile station comprises the interfaces 406-408 forcommunication with peripherals as mentioned earlier. Moreover, theantenna 411 of the mobile unit is connected to the processing unitthrough the interface 405. The processing arrangement 401 receives theinputs from the interfaces and processes the signals. This is importantthat the signals are so processed that the information derived from thesignals provides correct result.

The peripherals can be tuned into different channels or same channel asthe communication unit depending on application and how the componentsinteract. In a first simple application of the present invention, it isutilized as a powerful diversity antenna solution, where a plurality ofantennas send the same signal and thus providing e.g. radio signaldiversity for handling small scale (microscopic) fading. This is usefulfor any type of mobile communication solution, including GSM and upwardsin the cell phone version history. It is not necessary to demand anychanges of the central communication device side (e.g. base station) 50,but the invention may be implemented on the mobile unit 10 side only.

For systems where the essential parts of the system network (i.e. onboth mobile unit and base station side) are arranged according to thepresent invention, it is possible to allow for multiple bit streamstransmitted in parallel. The different bit streams are then separated bysynchronization codes (embedded into the data packets or signalingpackets) that are unique for each bit stream in order to be able toseparate the bit streams from each other. The separation is similar asmay be found for direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) techniques,where orthogonal (or semi-orthogonal) codes are used to separatedifferent data streams from each other. This type of enhanced datastreaming is particularly useful for the more recent cell phoneinfrastructure systems, e.g. 2.5G and 3G systems.

Turning now to FIG. 3 wherein a flow diagram illustrates steps of amethod according to the present invention. In a first step 301, the userestablishes a communication link with the base station through thecommunication device 50 and possibly further up the communication linkchannel (depending on the type of the communication link) as understoodby the person skilled in the art. In step 302, either the mobile unit 10or the base station (or any other device on the base station side of thecommunication link) determines if the available communication rate issufficient or if there is a need for increasing this rate. In anoptional parallel or subsequent step 303, the system may determine thequality of the established link (or links) and selects to openadditional links or channels to the devices connected to the mobileunit, to provide redundancy, multiple streams, or error handlingfunctions. In step 304, the peripheral units 20, 30, 40 are connected tothe mobile unit 10 or already established connections are used and in asubsequent step 305 the mobile unit 10 establishes communication linkswith the central communication device 50 via each peripheral unit eachusing a communication link with the central communication device 50 in asimilar manner as the mobile unit 10. The mobile unit 10 routes data viathe plurality of established communication links (via the direct firstlink 90 and/or via links 60, 70, 80 to the peripheral units 20, 30, 40).The traffic is routed to or from the mobile unit 10 according to apredetermined traffic shaping function in order to use the peripheraldevices 20, 30, 40 in a rate optimal manner, i.e. depending on data rateof established links either between the mobile unit 10 and eachperipheral unit 20, 30, 40 and/or between each peripheral unit 20, 30,40 and the central communication device 50. The mobile unit may also useother parameters in the traffic shaping function, e.g. battery levels ofperipheral units, link quality (such as signal to noise levels and/ordata rate), type of peripheral unit, type of data, ownership ofperipheral units, and so on. In a last step 306, when the communicationsession is terminated, the communication links not used are terminated.

In a similar manner, the base station 50 may use established links withthe mobile unit 10 directly and/or together with peripheral units 20,30, 40. There may also be provided a traffic shaping function at thebase station side of the communication link as described above for themobile unit using similar types of traffic shaping criteria.

It should be noted that the word “comprising” does not exclude thepresence of other elements or steps than those listed and the words “a”or “an” preceding an element do not exclude the presence of a pluralityof such elements. It should further be noted that any reference signs donot limit the scope of the claims, that the invention may be at least inpart implemented by means of both hardware and software, and thatseveral “means” or “units” may be represented by the same item ofhardware.

The above mentioned and described embodiments are only given as examplesand should not be limiting to the present invention. Other solutions,uses, objectives, and functions within the scope of the invention asclaimed in the below described patent claims should be apparent for theperson skilled in the art.

1-25. (canceled)
 26. A communication unit for communication within acommunication network, the unit comprising a transceiver portion, aprocessing unit and at least one interface arrangement for communicationwith at least one peripheral device, comprising: an arrangement fortransceiving at least parts of a signal to the communication networkusing at least one of said interface arrangements for communication withsaid at least one peripheral device.
 27. The communication unitaccording to claim 26, wherein said communication unit is a mobilecommunication unit.
 28. The communication unit according to claim 26,wherein said mobile communication unit is at least one of a mobilephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile computer, and amobile music platform.
 29. The communication unit according to claim 26,comprising a processing unit, a storage unit, an interface unit, atleast one communication portion, a first communication interface, atleast one second communication interface, and an identificationarrangement.
 30. The communication unit according to claim 29, whereinthe processing unit comprises additional instruction set for handlingand processing signals with respect to transmission and reception in theperipheral devices for communication with said communication network.31. The communication unit according to claim 29, wherein said firstcommunication interface handles a wireless interface used as a maincommunication link.
 32. The communication unit according to claim 29,wherein said second communication interface is used for communicationwith peripheral equipment.
 33. The communication unit according to claim26, wherein said peripheral device is at least one of a Personal DigitalAssistant (PDA), a mobile computer, a printer, a docking station, abattery charging device, storage device, music platform device,telephones, set top boxes for digital audio and/or video, routers orwireless data communication.
 34. The communication unit according toclaim 29, wherein said second communication interface comprises at leastone of a wireless interface or wire connection.
 35. The communicationunit according to claim 34, wherein said wire connection is one orseveral of Ethernet, USB, Firewire/IEEE 1394, optical, serial orparallel connections.
 36. The communication unit according to claim 29,wherein said first and second communication interface use dissimilarwireless communication methods.
 37. The communication unit according toclaim 26, wherein said communication unit and said peripheral devicesare arranged to act as one unit having several antennas towards saidcommunication network.
 38. A communication network comprising: a mobilecommunication unit having a communication arrangement for communicationwith a telecommunication network; at least one peripheral unitcommunicatively coupled to said communication unit and having means forcommunication with said telecommunication network, wherein said at leastone peripheral unit is arranged to mediate a communication signalbetween the telecommunication network and said communication unit insaid communication network.
 39. The communication network according toclaim 38, wherein said telecommunication network is one or several ofGSM (Global System for Mobile communication), GPRS (General Packet RadioService), EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution), UMTS(Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), CDMA (Code DivisionMultiple Access), CDMA2000 or WCDMA (wideband CDMA).
 40. Thecommunication network according to claim 38, wherein said at least onetransmitter and/or receiver arrangement controls mediation of saidsignal.
 41. The communication network according to claim 38, whereinsaid communication 5 unit controls mediation of said signal.
 42. Thecommunication network according to claim 38, wherein said communicationunit and said peripheral units receive same type of radio signal fromsaid telecommunications network.
 43. The communication network accordingto claim 38, wherein said communication unit and said peripheral unitsreceive same radio signal from said telecommunications network.
 44. Thecommunication network according to claim 38, wherein said communicationunit and said peripheral units are perceived from saidtelecommunications network as one unit having multiple antennas.
 45. Adevice having means for receiving and/or transmitting signals via awireless interface and a connection arrangement for connection to amobile communication unit wherein said device comprises a connectionportion for coupling said wireless interface to said connectionarrangement and further to said mobile communication unit for connectinga signal from said wireless interface to said mobile communication unit.46. The device according to claim 45, wherein said device is at leastone of a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a mobile computer, a printer,a docking station, a battery charging device, storage device,telephones, set top boxes for digital audio and/or video, routers orwireless data communication.
 47. The device according to claim 45,wherein said second communication arrangement comprises at least one ofa wireless interface or wire connection.
 48. The device according toclaim 45, wherein said wire connection is one or several of Ethernet,USB, optical, Firewire/IEEE 1394, serial or parallel connections.
 49. Amethod of enhancing one or several of redundancy, capacity, bandwidth,error handling or payload in a communication network including a mobilecommunication unit for communication with a communication station, and anumber of devices having communication ability with said communicationstation, the method comprising the steps of: receiving data by saiddevices over a radio channel; providing said data to said communicationunit through a communication interface; and processing said datareceived from said devices and signal from said communication station.50. The method of claim 49, further comprising the steps of:establishing a communication link with the communication station eitherby the communication unit or the communication station determining if ancommunication quality parameter; in an optional parallel or subsequentstep, determining the quality of an established link and making adecision to open an additional link to said devices connected to thecommunication unit; coupling to the communication unit said devices,establishing a communication link between the communication station saiddevices, and routing data from the communication unit via the pluralityof established communication links to said communication station.